One fateful evening on January 30, 1835, President Andrew Jackson became first active president to be the target of an assassination. Richard Lawrence, a jobless painter from England, was the man who attempted to take Jackson’s life using two pistols. After Lawrence was tried in court and proved “not guilty by insanity”, an enormous number of conspiracy theories erupted from the public. The major conflicting theories were and are, Lawrence solely attempted to carry out Jackson’s murder due to insanity, and that Lawrence was just a pawn of one of Jackson’s political oppositions, the real mastermind of the unsuccessful assassination. The most widely accepted version of this story is that Lawrence single- handedly devised and performed the attempted murder. In this theory, Lawrence originally planned to kill Jackson before he attended a funeral. This was not possible as there was not a proper time where Jackson was vulnerable, so Lawrence quickly decided to assassinate him after the service. When Jackson was leaving, Lawrence positioned a pistol at Jackson, but that had misfired, but Lawrence then retrieved another pistol, and this had misfired as well. Some other historians believe that the guns were in fact jammed, and a bullet didn’t come out of the barrel. This ensued in Jackson rushing and repeatedly clubbing Lawrence with his cane, living up to his reputation as, “Old Hickory.” It is believed that other bystanders worked harder to pry Jackson off of Lawrence than to subdue Lawrence himself. When he was tried in court, the verdict was that he was not guilty by insanity. Richard Lawrence, at the time of the assassination attempt believed himself to be a King of England. Lawrence was jobless, so he blamed Jackson instead of his... ... middle of paper ... ...orians theorize that Crockett didn’t really act out of kindness for Jackson, but instead out of impulse to save himself and prevent any blame from coming to him. The true story behind the attempted assassination of President Jackson may always remain a mystery, and leave historians to believe in their personal theories. The theory about having a greater scheme of people, and Lawrence only being a pawn of the failed killing, is less accepted, but far more exhilarating. On the other hand, analysts who theorize that Lawrence single- handedly devised the plan, still have an unanswered question. How is it possible that two shots from two different guns either misfired at a distance of inches, or were jammed? There are a handful signs in the events prior and during the murder attempt that either point to an enormous conspiracy theory, or may only be coincidences.
Shortly after the Civil war had ended and the confederate capital Richmond had fallen, the well known actor John Wilkes Booth decided to kill the President, and with the help of some friends the Vice President and Secretary of State as well. The man George Atzerodt was given the job of killing the Vice President. His plan was to book a room in the same hotel and Vice President Johnson but when the morning of the day he was supposed to commit the assassination came he backed out and could not carry through with the murder. Two other men, Lewis Powell and David Herold, were assigned to kill the Secretary of State William H. Seaward. Powell attempted to shoot him with a revolver but after a misfire attempted to stab Seaward unsuccessfully because of a jaw splint Seaward had on. After the failed assassination Powell and Herold split up. Po...
"Alternative Assassination Theories for John F. Kennedy." Gale Student Resources in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2011. Student Resources in Context. Web. 6 May 2014.
On July 25, 1946, two young black couples- Roger and Dorothy Malcom, George and Mae Murray Dorsey-were killed by a lynch mob at the Moore's Ford Bridge over the Appalachee River connecting Walton and Oconee Counties (Brooks, 1). The four victims were tied up and shot hundreds of times in broad daylight by a mob of unmasked men; murder weapons included rifles, shotguns, pistols, and a machine gun. "Shooting a black person was like shooting a deer," George Dorsey's nephew, George Washington Dorsey said (Suggs C1). It has been over fifty years and this case is still unsolved by police investigators. It is known that there were atleast a dozen men involved in these killings. Included in the four that were known by name was Loy Harrison. Loy Harrison may not have been an obvious suspect to the investigators, but Harrison was the sole perpetrator in the unsolved Moore's Ford Lynching case. The motive appeared to be hatred and the crime hurt the image of the state leaving the town in an outrage due to the injustice that left the victims in unmarked graves (Jordon,31).
...nd that Wallace was on the 6th floor depository at the time of the shooting. An alleged mistress of LBJ implied the conspiracy to kill JFK began in the early 1960’s, this conspiracy included dozens of individuals including leaders of the FBI and the Mafia.
...olina and brought back order to the nation, a result which is far from worthy of impeachment. Whatever legal or ethical qualms one may have about Jackson’s reaction to this crisis, he acted only in order to maintain order and keep this great nation unified.
Around 12:30p.m. in Dallas, Texas, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was riding in a motorcade passing the Texas School Book Depository building when he was assassinated.(“Know the Knoll: Knew Angles on JFK Assassination”) Most people think that three shots were fired. Two hitting Kennedy and one hitting Governor John Connally.(“LEE HARVEY OSWALD”) Shortly after the assassination Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested for killing a policeman, J. D. Tippit, for stopping him in a neighborhood. Soon after being arrested an employee from the Texas School Book Depository Building recognized Oswald which is when the police figured they had likely caught the president’s killer. When Oswald was being taken to the county jail he was shot by a nightclub owner named Jack Ruby.(“Accused JFK Assassin Is Arrested, Then Gunned down.”) For many people it was simple, Oswald was Kennedy’s killer. But if you are like most people you think Oswald did not act alone, or maybe did not even have anything to do with the assassination. There are many theories of how, why, and who killed Kennedy, but some of them are more popular and make more sense than others. For example the grassy knoll theory which is the theory that there was a gunman on the grassy knoll, either assisting Oswald or acting alone.(“Dealey Plaza and the Grassy Knoll.”)
Richard Lawrence, a house painter in his mid-30s, was the first man to be charged for the assassination attempt on an ...
Oliver Stone's JFK was a movie about the investigation by a district attorney, Jim Garrison, about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. JFK was one of the most controversial films of its time dealing with the decades-long debate about who actually killed President Kennedy. Was it done by the lone gunman Lee Harvey Oswald and his magic bullet that pierced through the bodies of the two men creating seven wounds? Or was it the end result of a detailed scheme masterminded by the Mafia involving the U.S. government and military, the Cubans, and all other Kennedy-haters? Jim Garrison was determined to find out the truth of the assassination. He arrested and charged a man named Clay Shaw, who was a New Orleans businessman, because he, with the help of Lee Harvey Oswald and David Ferrie, was said to have conspired the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
A single shot killed 39-year-old Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968. At the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee, a sniper from about “50-100 yards away,” shot and struck Dr. King’s neck, while instantaneously killing him (“Martin Luther King Slain” 139). From the crime scene, F.B.I. investigators traced a “white Mustang automobile,” and an “‘unusually large’ amount of physical evidence” (Waldron 1). With fingerprints, the actual rifle, and eyewitnesses as definite pieces of evidence, F.B.I. agents concluded that a Caucasian man executed the assassination and that he would be very easily caught (Waldron 1). Eyewitness testimony even stated that the “saw a white man [ran] from the house immediately after the shooting” (“Martin Luther King Slain” 140). As a shocking and horrific event, the assassination of Dr. King proved to test the nation’s character.
“John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. Lee Harvey Oswald was arrested and put on trial for his murder. However, before he could reach trial, Lee Harvey Oswald was himself murdered by Jack Ruby. Lee Harvey Oswald always pleaded innocence and many believe the assassination was a conspiracy.” (Pettinger, Biography of John F Kennedy )
On November 22, 1963, at 12:30 in the afternoon, President John F. Kennedy was shot at and killed while participating in a motorcade in Dallas, Texas. The most important question that arises from this incident is ‘Who killed President John F. Kennedy?’ This is an issue which has been debated by scholars, The Government, and even common people alike. Many people seem to feel that it was a conspiracy, some large cover-up within a cover-up.
Since November 23, 1963, the day after President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated, there have been speculations as to the happenings of November 22, 1963. Along with the Warren Commission, there are hundreds of conspiracies and theories attempting to explain the assassination of Kennedy. Many people agree with the Warren Commission in that Lee Harvey Oswald acted as the lone gunman, while others maintain that another gunman was involved. Because of extensive evidence, I believe that Oswald did not act alone on November 22, 1963 in the assassination of Kennedy. The additional gunman was strategically placed in the grassy knoll area, in order to shoot at Kennedy from a frontal view (Rubinstein 4).
John F. Kennedy’s assassination has been a mystery since it happened in 1993. John F. Kennedy was shot in a moving car in Dallas, Texas. The murder surprised the nation in a time of peace and calmness, It was also “... the first time the vivid immediacy of such acts was brought into the homes of millions” (“The Warren
Assassinations have been occurring in the United States since the beginning of time. They are usually triggered by religious, governmental, or military intentions that want to harm a political figure. An act that may be completed for commercial gain, from an aspiration to obtain recognition, to punish a grievance or notoriety, or military or security services force people to carry out the horrible killing. John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcom X, and Martin Luther King Jr. were all widely inspirational men that were assassinated. These four men were killed for a sole purpose, they were killed to make a point. The killers were all majorly angry, they wanted prominence, and they did not believe in how everything was turning out to be. They were four innocent men that were trying to make a difference in the world, but were killed due to the fact that they wanted purely wanted change to be brought to the world.
It was a true stroke of luck that they appreciated his views and choices during his presidency. Without them agreeing, he would have been seen as a bad president. In hindsight, many did see the damage he caused with his reckless indifference to the needs and opinions of others. No matter what the common folk believed or wanted, Jackson would have still acted upon his own beliefs and opinions. Although his actions were appreciated but his fellow Jacksonian Democrats, he was, in fact, a democratic tyrant through his choices, lack of regard for opposing viewpoints, and overuse of his presidential